First, the meaning of tax
Many scholars at home and abroad have given their own definitions of what tax is, but these definitions are very inconsistent. This is mainly because tax itself is a concept of development, and there are also different perspectives and expressions of tax. Therefore, scholars in different periods naturally have different understandings and understandings of taxation, and this difference largely reflects the development process of taxation. For example, Adam Smith defined taxation in The Wealth of Nations 1776 as "people give a part of their private income to the monarch or the state as public income" and emphasized that most of the state's funds must come from various taxes. This definition not only shows that the taxpayer of tax is "people", but also focuses on tax as a kind of "public income" to meet the needs of national funds. 1892, British financier Basthill further realized that taxation is a compulsory collection. In his view, "tax is the wealth that people or private organizations are forced to collect to supply the business expenses of public institutions." Shi Mei Saburo, a Japanese scholar, pointed out that taxes are levied by virtue of "financial power", and the discussion angle has also shifted from taxpayers to taxpayers. In his book "Basic Knowledge of Taxation", he defined taxation as: "Taxation is the wealth imposed on ordinary taxpayers by the state and public organizations according to their financial resources in order to pay their general expenses". Obviously, the "financial power" here refers to the differentiated administrative power and "property right". However, the British scholar Simon James and others defined the unpaid nature of tax in the first edition 1978 and the second edition 1983, arguing that "tax is a compulsory collection that political institutions do not directly repay". Since the reform and opening up, China's tax theory research has been very active. On the basis of understanding the meaning of tax and absorbing the achievements of western tax theory, the legal characteristics of tax are further emphasized. So far, although the definition of tax is still different in terms of words and understanding, the understanding of the meaning of tax has basically reached a * * * understanding: First, the subject of tax collection is the state, and the object of tax collection is units and individuals. Secondly, the purpose of tax collection is to meet the needs of the country to realize its functions (western scholars emphasize "public needs"). Third, tax collection is based on law, relying on political power, not property power. Therefore, tax collection embodies the mandatory characteristics. Fourth, the process of taxation is a one-way and free transfer of material wealth from the private sector to the state. Fifth, from the direct result of tax collection, the state has obtained fiscal revenue through taxation. Therefore, we can give a complete definition of tax: tax is a form in which the state participates in the distribution of wealth of units and individuals by virtue of its political power in order to realize its functions, and obtains financial revenue compulsorily and free of charge.
It should be noted that in many tax works, tax is defined as the state's participation in the distribution of national income or social surplus products. We believe that national income or social surplus products are only the distribution objects in the macro sense of taxation, but taxation is first and foremost a micro concept, that is, for a specific taxpayer or in a specific tax payment link, the distribution objects of taxation are not necessarily limited to surplus products. We should pay attention to the distribution object in the macro sense of taxation when we analyze the essence of taxation and formulate the macro policy of taxation, but as a concept of taxation, we should intuitively reflect the basic characteristics of taxation activities. Otherwise, for the collection of turnover tax, it is difficult to understand the definition of tax with surplus products as the distribution object: loss-making enterprises still have to pay turnover tax without surplus products. ?
Second, the tax characteristics
From the above definition of tax, we can see the basic characteristics of tax: compulsory, unpaid and fixed tax according to law. The characteristics of tax reflect the difference between tax and other forms of fiscal revenue, from which we can understand why tax can become the most important form of fiscal revenue.
(1) Compulsory taxation
The compulsion of tax means that the basis of tax participation in social commodity distribution is the political power of the state, not the property power, that is, it has nothing to do with the possession of the means of production. The compulsion of taxation is reflected in the fact that taxation is stipulated in the form of national laws. As a part of national laws, tax law is generally applicable to different owners, and any unit or individual must abide by it. Those who fail to pay taxes according to law will be punished by law. The compulsory explanation of taxation shows that paying taxes according to law is a legal obligation that people should not escape. China's Constitution clearly stipulates that China citizens "have the obligation to pay taxes according to law". It is precisely because of its mandatory characteristics that taxation is the most common and reliable form for a country to obtain fiscal revenue.
(b) The unpaid nature of taxation
As far as the specific tax collection process is concerned, the unpaid nature of tax revenue is manifested in the fact that after the state levies tax, the tax revenue belongs to the state, and there is no problem of reimbursement to taxpayers.
The unpaid nature of taxation is relative. For certain taxpayers, they have not received any remuneration after paying taxes. In this sense, taxes are non-refundable or non-refundable. However, if we look at the problem from the overall financial activities, taxation is the compensation for the cost of providing public goods and services by the government, which reflects the payment side here. Especially under the socialist conditions, taxation has the nature that "everything deducted from private producers will be directly or indirectly used for the welfare of private producers", that is, "take it from the people and use it for the people". Of course, as far as a specific taxpayer is concerned, the tax he pays is not necessarily symmetrical with the benefits he gets from the consumption of public goods or services.
Fixity of tax revenue
The fixity of tax means that the proportion or amount of tax collected by tax objects and tax objects of each unit is relatively fixed, which is stipulated in advance in the form of law and can only be collected according to predetermined standards, but not indefinitely. Taxpayers who obtain taxable income or engage in taxable activities must also pay in full according to a predetermined standard, which cannot be changed. Similarly, the fixity of taxation cannot be absolute, because once the standard is determined, it can never be changed. With the change of social and economic conditions, the specific collection standards can be changed. For example, the state can amend the tax law and raise or lower the tax rate. , but this only changed the collection standard, not canceled. Therefore, this is not contradictory to the fixity of taxation.